Filed To Story: Pretty Poisoned Novel by Elle Mitchell
“I’ll text you when I get the results. Don’t let her out of your sight,” he says.
“I got it,” she replies. “Don’t worry.”
“I don’t understand what the fuck is going on,” I tell River.
“If this comes back clean, you can come to the show tonight. And maybe, if you can handle it, you can come with us when we go to Coeur d’Alene. Personally, I don’t think you can,” Declan says.
“Then why are you doing this?” I ask.
“I want to see what it looks like when you break,” he says. And the way he says it, the look in his eyes, again, it’s terrifying. All I can do is sit there.
“If you come tonight,” Declan adds, “stay away from my brother. Don’t talk to him, and definitely don’t touch him. If you do, you’re out.”
Now, I’m even more confused. I assumed he was here because Luca wanted me there.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because,” he says, “I want to watch you break. Luca won’t even give you a chance. You won’t be able to handle him.”
I wait for more clarification, but I don’t get it. He simply turns and walks out the door.
“Luca breaks all of his favorite toys,” River says. I realize she’s cleaning my upper arm with a cotton ball. “That’s why he’s in timeout. One more pinch.”
What’s that supposed to mean?
Did I get this wrong? Is Luca the one killing women?
“When was your last period?” she asks.
“What?” I ask, confused. “I don’t have them.”
“Hmm…that works,” she says. I watch as another needle goes into my arm, and she pushes the plunger down.
“What the fuck was that?” I ask.
“Relax,” she says. “It’s just birth control.”
“I already have an IUD,” I tell her.
“Well, now you’re on the shot, too,” River says. She removes her gloves with a snap and tosses them into the trash bin on the other side of the sofa. “Can’t forget it, can’t be removedhouse rules. What do you want to eat? I’d kill for some fucking queso.”
She takes out her phone and starts scrollinglooking for restaurants, I assume. And I just sit there, wondering if maybe I’m still asleep because I don’t understand any of this.
“Are you a doctor?” I ask.
“No, I just play one on TV,” she says. “Oh, here’s a place right around the corner.”
“What?”
“I was a nurse before I left and became part of the family. I guess I’m still a nurse. Are you ready? Make sure you grab everythingI doubt you’ll be coming back here.”
“The family?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she says. “We’re a family.”
As I process that, her light blue eyes search mine. I want to know more about this supposed family. I’m pretty sure they’re all fucking each other; most families don’t do that. They don’t kill each other, either.
“We love each other,” River says. “We’re bound in blood. We know and accept every part of each otherof every memberfor who they are at a basic level. There’s no judgment, no questions. We’re there for each other; we’d do anything to protect each other. That’s a family.”
She reaches out and runs her fingers through my hair in that soothing way again.
“Do you have a family, Teagan?” she asks.
“Yes,” I tell her. “Of course.”
“I don’t believe you,” she says.
“I I’m going to go get my stuff.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Lightheaded and a little unsteady, I walk to the bedroom and close the door behind me. I start picking up clothes from the floor and throwing them back into my bag. Then, I grab my phone from the charger and check my text messages.
MOM I can’t believe your sister went out of her way to get you a job interview, and you didn’t even bother to show up.
MOM You’re in for a rude awakening. We aren’t going to support you forever, Teagan. I won’t let you move back in here without a real job. It’s time for you to start living in reality.
I close the messages without replying and click on Blakely’s name.
BLAKELY Where are you?
BLAKELY You aren’t actually with the band, are you? lol
BLAKELY Just FYI, Austin and I put a couple of offers in on places today. If they’re accepted, I’m going to give a thirty-day notice, and you’ll have to find somewhere else to livenot with me and not with Mom and Dad. Not without a real job.
I begin typing out that I do have a real jobthat I have real money, which means I have a real job, but what’s the point? It’s not what they want to hear, so they won’t.
Do you have a family, Teagan?
I swallow hard, squeezing my eyes shut and taking a couple of deep breathsan exercise I’ve learned will stop tears before they have a chance to form.
I don’t believe you.
I throw the phone and the charger back in my backpack, and then move to the bathroom and do the same with my curling iron and makeup.
“Ready,” I tell River when I return to the living room.
“Great,” she says. “Let’s go.”
“Well, you’re officially clean,” River says before stuffing her phone back into her pocket. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” I tell her.
Not that I was worried.
We ate at that restaurant around the corner, and then a black town car picked us up and took us back to the venue and the tour bus. Still confused about how or why all of this is happening, I follow River onto the bus. I’m met with a cloud of smoke, the distinct scent of marijuana hangs heavy in the air.
“Hey, everyone. Teagan’s going to be hanging with us for a while,” River tells the group. I recognize many of them from last night, but there are a couple of girls who don’t look familiar. “You remember Hazel, Brady, and Layla,” she says, pointing them out. Layla, who looked sad last night, looks sick now as she rests her head on Hazel’s shoulder.
“We also call her Baby because Layla is our baby,” River says. “Although I guess you’re the baby now, aren’t you, Teagan? I heard you were only twenty.”
“Well, that’s just great,” Layla says, her tone heavy with irony. She laughs and looks at me with tears pooling in her eyes. “Now, I really am no one. Just one step closer to erasing me altogether.”
She throws her hands up and storms off to the bus’s upper level with River and Hazel trailing behind her, pleading with her to come back. I follow before a hand on my shoulder stops me.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.